Our Team

NTPC Board of Directors is comprised of the following individuals appointed by the Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT):

Chairman:

Steve Loutitt

Vice Chairman:

Martin Goldney

Directors:

Jamie Koe

William MacKay

Pamela Strand

Erin Kelly

Corporate Secretary (NTPC):

Trish McFaull

NTPC Senior Leadership Team

Cory Strang, (Acting) President and Chief Executive Officer

Cory was born and raised in Hay River and has over 20 years of service with NTPC. He has a financial background and has worked in a variety of positions within the finance division, including the positions of Manager, Treasury & Risk and Manager, Budgeting & Regulatory Affairs. Cory received a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Alberta and received his Chartered Financial Analyst designation in 2006. He was appointed Chief Financial Officer of the Corporation in October 2020.

Belinda Whitford, Chief Operating Officer

Belinda has more than 20 years of utility finance experience and was NTPC's controller for over 4 years before assuming the role of Chief Financial Officer in April 2016. Belinda assumed the role of COO in October 2020. In her current role, Belinda has overall accountability for Hydro Operations, Thermal Operations and Transmission and Distribution.

Cory Strang, Chief Financial Officer

Paul Grant, Chief Services Officer

Paul is a Chartered Professional Accountant with a degree in economics. He has more than two decades of experience with NTPC working in finance, generation and distribution areas. Appointed as Director, Customer Service in 2016, his area of responsibilities included billing, metering and customer service. He continued to develop the customer experience by utilizing technology to make interaction with customers more timely and efficient. He was appointed Director, Corporate Planning in August 2018. In this role, he continues to oversee Customer Service, with additional responsibilities for Continuous Improvement, the Strategic Planning Process, and Communications. In November 2019, Paul assumed leadership of a new Corporate Services division, which includes his previous areas of responsibility along with Information Technology and Supply Chain Management.

Kumar Balachandran, Chief Projects and Engineering Officer

Kumar Balachandran joined NTPC in September 2019. He is a Professional Engineer with over 30 years of global experience in Projects and Operation Management. His international project experience spans mining, oil & gas and heavy industrial sectors, in Asia, Africa, Australia and Canada.

Prior to joining NTPC, Kumar worked for Cameco Corporation in Saskatoon as Manager, Project Planning & Services. In this role he was responsible for planning and estimating the Corporation’s Major Projects portfolio. This portfolio exceed $1B annually for several consecutive years. Kumar also worked for Iron Ore Company of Canada (Rio Tinto group) in Labrador as a Senior Technical Advisor in its Major Projects Division. Previously he served s the Operations Manager of steel and aluminum plants and projects in East Africa. He has also worked for a major Engineering, Procurement and Construction Management conglomerate in Asia, working on projects in the oil & gas, mining and industrial sectors.

Mike Ocko, Director, Thermal Operations

Mike has 30 years of experience in the utility industry and thermal power generation. He joined the Northwest Territories Power Corporation (NTPC) in 1989 working in thermal operations and maintenance as a result of his background as an Industrial & Control Electrician. He was appointed as the Director of NTPC’s Thermal Division in 2010 and has promoted alternate energy solutions within his division as well as across the company. Mike has served as Chair of the Canadian Off-Grid Utility Association for the past 10 years. His number one priority is to ensure that his employees work safely and are able to go home to family and friends at the end of every work day.

Alex Love, Director, Hydro Operations

Lee Brenton, Director, Transmission and Distribution

Eddie Smith, Director, Health, Safety and Environment

Eddie was born and raised in Hay River and has a diploma in Renewable Resources Technology from Aurora College in Fort Smith and a B.Sc. degree from the University of Lethbridge in Environmental Science. He spent several years coaching the NWT Track and Field Team at national events and is involved in local sports and community events. Eddie joined NTPC as an Environmental Analyst in 2003, and was named Manager, Health, Safety & Environment (HSE) in 2008. Now Director, he is dedicated to improving the HSE programs and building a culture of health and safety at NTPC.

Erin Dean, Director, Human Resources

Erin joined NTPC in 2016 as an HR Specialist, in 2018 she became the Manager, Human Resources and was appointed the Director, Human Resources in 2019. She has 15 years’ experience in mining, oil & gas, and utility industries. She leads the team responsible for all aspects of Human Resources at the Corporation.

Erin holds both a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Master of Human Resources Management degree. She is a Chartered Professional in Human Resources (CPHR) and a Certified Executive Coach (in-training).

Bruno Pereira, Director, NT Energy

Bruno is a Professional Engineer with over 30 years of experience, most recently as President and CEO of Qulliq Electric Corporation (QEC). In his role at QEC, Bruno represented QEC and the Nunavut government to the federal Senate and the House of Commons on various utility issues. He was also responsible for restructuring and expanding the non-regulated District Heating business in Nunavut and initiating the territory’s first Independent Power Producer (IPP) program Recently, Bruno led the Nunavut territorial review of a proposed $1.7 billion transmission line between Manitoba and Nunavut. Bruno will be working with our customers and staff to identify new business opportunities and deliver the projects assigned to NT Energy within our new Project Implementation Framework (PIF) in cooperation with the Projects & Engineering team.